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Thursday, 8 March 2012

Podolski on his way, Disgraceful policing at Arsenal

Lukas Podolski - coming to an Arsenal team near you

I am really pleased with the news that Lukas Podolski is on his way to Arsenal. It seems to be a done deal now that the German international will be an Arsenal player next season. If this is a statement of intent from Arsenal then I am all for it. For too long there has been far too much shilly-shallying in the transfer market. Last season we messed about all Summer in trying to keep players who were leaving, before selling Fabregas at a ridiculously low price. As a result we ended up buying at Lidl on the last day of the sales, rather than picking up Harrods best bargains early on. That's why we got Arteta rather than Mata (we should have had Mata wrapped up two months before Chelsea came on the scene). Podolski is a top class player and he is just the type of man we need to be bringing in. The reports suggest we are getting him for as little as £11m which really is a snip for this kind of quality. There are question marks regarding recent injury troubles, but that kind of price makes this not much of a gamble to be honest. His signing will tick a lot of boxes, not least the one that says he is an improvement on what we have in the squad. It would take a very silly individual to suggest that this man is not better than Chamakh, Park, Gervinho and Walcott. The cynics will, no doubt, suggest that Podolski is the replacement for Van Persie. I am still in the camp that thinks that RVP will be leaving, but this kind of signing is certainly showing some ambition in the transfer market. If he is the first of a few World names to be joining then it should be a message to Robin that Arsenal are now meaning business once again. I am imagining a team that includes Van Persie, Podolski, Chamberlain, Song and Wilshere, backed up by a squad including Ramsey, Arteta, Gervinho, Coquelin etc. Suddenly it looks a lot better, don't you think? Add Gotze and Yann M'Villa and a quality centre-half, and clear out the dead wood like Bendtner, Denilson, Almunia, Fabianski and Squillaci and you might have the basis of a Championship challenge for next season.All in all the signing of Podolski excites me. I would like to see the Club get it announced quickly and tell us that there is more like this to come. We need something to show the likes of Van Persie that they can still achieve their ambitions with Arsenal. Fingers are crossed for a good and busy Summer of ins and outs for our Club.

I'm sure many of you reading this will have read Kevin Whitcher's editorial piece at onlinegooner.com yesterday. If you haven't then I would urge you to do so straight away. You can read it here. The fact that Kevin was arrested for passing on a ticket at face value on Tuesday night is an absolute outrage. We've all passed on a ticket or three in order to not be out of pocket on a game we can't attend, and there really should be nothing wrong with that. It seems that, technically, such things constitute a criminal offence in law. In this case the law is, as ever, an ass. The passing on of a seat for a premium should be illegal, not the sort of thing for which Kevin has been arrested.I walked past Arsenal Station on my way to the ground on Tuesday and the same parasites were there touting tickets. They are there every game, and anyone reading this that goes to games regularly will know to whom I'm referring. These people are parasitic scum, yet the police allow them to conduct their "business" unfettered by the law. It would be so simple for plain-clothed police to mop these idiots up. It would also be very easy for Arsenal to "sting" them and ensure that the memberships being used to procure the tickets are cancelled.It is likely that Kevin Whitcher will have his season ticket confiscated by Arsenal Football Club, and be banned from attending matches. An acquaintance of mine suffered these very consequences when arrested in the same circumstances outside the away end at Middlesbrough a couple of years ago. Arsenal and the police really need to get their priorities right and deal with the touts, not ordinary people trying to make sure they're not out of pocket on a regular basis. It disgusts me.

1 comment:

Read his article. Absolute outrage that a genuine fan has been treated this way. I don't blame the Police, but the club need to take a long hard look at themselves if they punish him further by confiscating his season ticket. The arrest on the night should be enough. This is a fan who has paid handsomely into the club's healthy bank balance and to take further actions shows their true feelings and contempt towards a genuine fan. Face value for goodness sake. No profit.